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Alcohol’s effect on
fans is sobering

SO now we're talking about a possible ban on drinking at Aloha Stadium for Hawaii football games.

Interesting.

Maybe this doesn't necessarily have to be done, but it definitely needs to be talked about. Because there is a problem here. We've all seen it. I've had a reader tell me UH games have a "pro wrestling atmosphere." Another wrote in to say the stands are filled with "a prison exercise yard mentality." A noticeable number of people have said they've stopped bringing their families to games.

Even the president of the school has not only admitted that a problem exists, he's said he's seen some of it firsthand (and maybe he's just still new, but the fact that a school president would say something like that is huge).

We need to talk about this.

OK, now there will be people who use the old "Guns don't kill people; people kill people" argument. And they have a good point. The problem is not that people are drinking beer. The problem is that people are drinking beer and acting like idiots. That's why nobody is saying there should be any kind of ban on beer at the Stan Sheriff Center. People aren't quite as willing to "make A" under the glare of those bright indoor lights as they are in the stadium's outdoor night air.

And there will also be people who say it is only a few who are ruining it for everyone else. Also a very valid argument. But you can't expect to take that one step further and say that the rest of us shouldn't be punished because of the actions of those few. Uh, no. Tough. Too bad. That's the way it's always worked -- the rest of us always have to suffer because of the actions of a few knuckleheads. That's life.

(Try making that argument in an airport security line and let me know what you think of those new model stun guns.)

And there will also be people who will tell you it is all the stadium's fault. I don't know how much of that is true; I don't know if anyone would know. But it has become a very "in" thing these days to blame the stadium for everything. UH can't make its budget because it has to pay rent to the stadium ... how dare the Stadium Authority charge so much! (Um, the authority is only following state law as written ...)

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SB FILE / NOVEMBER 2002 Riots in the stands, such after UH's 2002 game against Cincinnati, have led to a possible alcohol ban at Aloha Stadium.

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The stadium is far from perfect. But its biggest failing may be in public relations -- allowing itself to be painted as the bad guy time and time again.

And so there will be people who say fewer fans are coming to the games because of stadium traffic -- although there is no traffic, these days. (Will there be a big 45,000-plus-people traffic jam for UH's season opener against USC? Hopefully.)

The threat of traffic may be a deterrent. But really, Oahu people face traffic several hours a day every day. Oahu people are tired of traffic, frustrated with traffic, sick of traffic. But we don't fear it. If we really wanted to go to the game? We'd go.

No, there are bigger reasons why people are staying away, and this problem is real, and drinking is at least a part of it: "Pro wrestling atmosphere." More and more families opting to stay home.

And yes, it goes deeper than drinking. A lot of it is the attitude that permeates the event. Remember the UH-Cincinnati riot? Remember when the UC people said Hawaii's out-of-control atmosphere contributed to the chaos?

One of the official responses was that that was "home-field advantage."

It was said, "That's how they do it at Fresno State."

Well, you can't have people coming through the turnstiles thinking -- mistakenly or not -- that's how they are expected to act. That attitude, plus drinking, equals blood and/or pepper spray at least once a year.

Plus, what do people up and down the West Coast think of Fresno State's home atmosphere (and is that what we want them to think of us)?

I'd like to see people coming to the games because they love football, because they love UH -- not to work out their anger-management issues. I'd like to see them cheering for Hawaii, not challenging the opposing sideline to a fight.

This is college football, not the audience for The Jerry Springer Show.

I'd like to see more kids growing up to be football fans -- and if fewer families are coming, that might not be necessarily so.

If you let drunk punks ruin it for the families, sooner or later all you will have left are drunk punks. And, yes, that would make a pretty good home-field advantage. But that's not the kind of stadium a state can be proud of.

Even if the rest of us are innocent, this is something to discuss.

Maybe we should step away from the keg for a season, just to let things settle down. Maybe drinking isn't the main problem, but maybe a temporary period of sobriety could help clear the slate. Maybe, sober, UH's new motto "There's nothing like being there" would be true again.